From Ecopedia

Overview

Recycling is reprocessing of used and old materials into new and useful products. Recycling helps in effectively controlling ecological pollution, besides reducing the consumption of fresh and essential raw materials. Recycling is an essential component of modern-day waste reduction management process.^{[1] [2]}

Environmentalists promote recycling as an effective mechanism to control air and water pollution by restricting and reducing virgin production.

Some of the most commonly recycled material includes: Glass, Plastic, Paper, Timber, Paint, Batteries, Textiles, Electronics, Concrete aggregate, Ferrous metals including steel and non-ferrous metals such as aluminum. Although both biodegradable waste reuse and composting produce similar effects, the techniques are not considered recycling, in the strictest sense.

In recycling, used materials to be reprocessed are either collected from the curbside or brought to a collection facility, where the material is reprocessed into new and useful materials ready for manufacturing. ^[3]

Environmental Benefits

Recycling helps in preventing wastage of potentially useful material such as paper pulp, which when reprocessed would aid in reducing virgin production by minimizing consumption of fresh raw material. Recycling, thus, conserves the planet’s limited resources from getting depleted. Moreover, as a result of recycling, many essential raw materials could be put to proper use in future.

Recycling drastically minimizes energy usage, as the recycling process requires less energy compared to virgin production.

Air and water pollution can be effectively curbed through recycling. Recycling checks water contamination from landfilling and air contamination from incineration(combustion of waste material). During recycling of used products, waste disposal is done more effectively by efficiently organizing as well as managing waste products, leading to reduced pollution of the environment.

In salvage recycling, certain materials such as lead or mercury are recovered and retrieved from complex products due to the intrinsic values or hazardous nature of such materials.

Compared to virgin production, recycling helps in effectively lowering the levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling significantly lowers the emissions of various toxic and harmful gases that pollute the atmosphere.

Through recycling, space for landfill sites needed for waste disposal could be saved and utilized for better purposes.

Recycling can also effectively check the environmentally-hazardous global warming phenomenon. As recycling of used material, releases lowered levels of greenhouse gases compared to virgin production, environmentally-harmful gases do not get accumulated in the air to warm-up the atmosphere. ^[4]

Recycling of plastic, for instance, lowers the consumption of energy and natural resources such as natural gas, water and petroleum. As a result of minimal consumption of energies and natural resources, release of global warming-causing gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) could be effectively controlled. ^[5]

References

1. ↑ http://www.a1articles.com/article_993374_53.html
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling
3. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling
4. ↑ http://www.a1articles.com/article_993374_53.html
5. ↑ http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/benefits-of-plastics-recycling.htm